MCP Authorization and Authentication
Understand the critical security concepts of authentication and authorization within MCP. Explore how OAuth 2.1 ensures controlled access through three-legged authorization flows, and learn about simpler API key methods. This lesson helps you secure MCP applications by applying modern standards and zero-trust principles.
We have learned how the MCP acts as a universal adapter, allowing AI agents to seamlessly use external tools. But with this power comes a critical responsibility: security.
When an AI agent can access our calendar, read our code, or manage our projects, we must have a rock-solid system in place to ensure it only has permission to do what we’ve explicitly allowed. This is where authentication and authorization come in. But these are two different terms:
Authentication: Proving who we are. (e.g., “Are you really John Doe?”)
Authorization: Confirming what we’re allowed to do. (e.g., “Is John Doe allowed to read this file?”)
MCP uses a modern, industry-standard approach to handle this, ensuring that the user is always in ...